Mechanism for lighting and extinguishing street-lamps.



E. S. NEWBOLD.

MECHANISM FOR LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING STREET LAMPS.

APPLICAUON FILED OCT. 13, K914.

1,142,608. Patented J me; 8, 1915.

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E. S. NEWBOLD. MECHANISM FOR LIGHTING AND EXHNGUISHING STREET LAMPS.

APPUCATION FILED 0CT.13, 1914. 1,142,608. Patented June 8, 1915.

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NORRIS PETERS Co., PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGYUN. D

EUGENE S. NEWBOLD, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

MECHANISM FOR LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING STREET-LAMPS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. June 8, 1915.

' Application filed October 13, 1914. Serial No. 866,448.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE S. NEWBOLD, a citizenof the United States, residing at Baltimore, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Lighting and Extinguishing Street-Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for automatically controlling gas and other valves, and more particularly to a device for automatically lighting and extinguishing street lights at predetermined times.

A number of mechanisms have been devised for these general purposes, but none of them have been very successful, due, it is thought, to the character of the mechanism employed, in view of the conditions under which a street lamp for instance, must be lighted and extinguished. These conditions have to do, among other things, with the heat and cold in climates where the temperature varies considerably, and it has been found that in summer or warm weather, the mechanism will give fair satisfaction, whereas in colder weather it can not be relied upon. The mechanism must be such that the gas valve will be opened and closed with absolute certainty regardless of weather conditions.

The object of this invention, therefore, is to produce such a mechanism, and the device about to be described has by experiment, shown itself to be reliable under all conditions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction wherein the clock mechanism and casing may be readily separated from the burner, as may be made necessary by the need of repairs, etc., without in any way affecting the operativeness of the burner, for manual lighting and extinguishing, and the reestablishment of said mechanism and easing upon the burner, for time lighting and extinguishing.

The street lamp for which this invention is particularly adapted, is one very generally in use, in which a pilot flame is maintained constantly to ignite the main flame when turned on.

In the drawingsFigure l is a face view of the device, the front or cover of the easing being removed; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the time dial and parts carried thereby removed; Fig. 3 is a rear view of the device; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the gas burner, with operating lever, attaching brackets, and mantle-holding arm; Fig. 5 is a face view of the device with the time dial removed, showing the releasing lever in full lines at the point where it is about to release the mechanism to open or close the burner valve, there being shown in dotted lines, the position of this lever during the operation of opening or closing, the valve; Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the mechanism with the casing partly broken away; Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the device with the casing in section, showing the cover in dotted lines, and Fig. 8 is a detached perspective View of the releasing lever.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the clock-mechanism, which may be of the usual eight-day type, provided with the usual driving wheel 2, the clock mechanism being contained between the usual front and rear plates 3 and 4, respectively.

The numeral 5 designates a driving wheel mounted on the winding shaft 6, which wheel is normally held against operative movement and only moves at such time as it is desired to operate the valve to light or extinguish the lamp.

The wheel 5 meshes with a pinion 7 on the shaft 8 mounted in the plates 3 and 4, which shaft carries on its forward end, in front of the plate 3, a disk 9 provided with two oppositely disposed tripping pins 10. The opposite end of the shaft extends through the rear end 4 and through an aperture in the casing 11 and carries a disk 12, provided with a lever operating stud 13, adapted to engage one or the other of two inturned ears 14, integral with an arm 15 attached to the gas valve 16. The valve 16 forms part of a gas burner 17 having in its lower end, a threaded opening 18 for attachment to the gas pipe, and at its upper end, a threaded portion 19, to receive a suitable burner tip.

The numeral 20 designates two stops integral with the burner casting, between which the operating lever 15 oscillates and by which the oscillating movement of the lever is limited. The burner casting is further provided with two laterally extending arms 21, having integral with their inner ends two brackets 22, having slots 23 therein,-

open at their tops for the reception of the rear body portions of four screws 24, by

which the burner casting is detachably secured to the casing 11, it being obvious that to remove the casing and contained mechanism from the burner casting, it is only necessary to loosen the screws when the brackets can be slid from them and removed. The burner casting is further provided with a mantle holding arm 25, having an aperture 26 in its end in which a mantle holding rod, not shown, may be inserted and held in position by the set screw 27 The burner casting is mounted on the casing in such position that the stud 13 w1ll have to engage one or wheel 12 is revolved.

Mounted upon the shaft 8 is a gear wheel 28 meshing with a pinion 29 mounted upon a shaft 30 journaled in suitable hearings in the plates 3 and 4. This shaft carries just inside the front plate, a wheel 31, provided with two studs 32 and 33, the stud 32 being nearer to the hub of the wheel than the stud 33.

The numeral 34 designates the releasing lever formed with two arms, an upper arm 35, and a lower arm 36, the lever being pivoted to the. front plate 3, as shown at 37.

'The. numeral 38 designates a leaf spring secured at its upper end in the front plate 3, and bears at its lower end upon the arm 36 of the lever, thus keeping the arms of said lever always rocked downward.

The lower arm 36 of the lever is provided with an inturned ear 39, which extends through a slot 40 in the plate 3, and into the path of movement of one or the other of the studs 32 or 33, according to the function to be performed by the mechanism, as described in the operation of the device.

The upper arm of the lever is provided with a forwardly extending car 41, provided with a pivoted pointer 42, to guide in the adjustment of a time dial 43, which dial is provided with a sleeve 44 in frictional engagement with an arbor carriedby a gear wheel 45, mounted loosely on the winding shaft 6. This wheel 45 is driven by the main driving wheel 2, through a pinion 46, and a small gear wheel 47 mounted upon a shaft 48, journaled in the plates 3 and 4.

The numerals 49 and 50 designate two tripping fingers. Each finger is integral with a disk, the finger 50 with the disk 51, and the finger 49 with the disk 52. Interposed between the disks is a washer 53. The sleeve 44 is extended through the face of the dial and through the disks and washer, and is provided at its outer end with a bifurcated clamping lever 54, which is pivoted to the extension of the sleeve, so that the ends of the bifurcated arms extend slightly below the pivot points, as indicated at 55, so that when the lever is rocked to flat position, or the position shown in Fig. 1, the disks 51 and 52 will be firmly clamped together.

the other of the ears 14 when the.

This is for the purpose of holding the trip, fingers firmly in any adjusted pbsition on, the dial, at any hour that, it IS; desired to, light and extinguish the ren me finger be-.

ing to actuate the meehanis i n to light the.

lamp, and the other to extinguishit in coopa eration with the.releasing lever 34.

The upper ends of the tripping fingers are, beveled a's indic'ated at 56', so! as to: ride; gradually under the. ear I 41: of the releasing; lever, which action, permits a certain pre. liminary movementof-"the wheel 31, but one of the. pins thereon. passes,- out of engagement withthereleasinglever to permit a full opening or closing movement.

The operation is as, follows: AS. Shown in Fig. l the trippingfinger 50 is set say to extinguish the lamp at six oclock in the morning, and; the finger- 49' is set to light the light at seven oc-look in the evening. When the loweredge of the beveled portion of the finger 50-, which is revolving with the time dial, engages the under edge of the ear 41 of the releasing lever, the continued revolution,

of the dial will force the ear slowly up the inclined portion of the finger until a is reached just short of going over w ttage 1 or point of the finger. Just before. th e, falls off the point, the releasing lever; w' have been rocked upward sulfioiently'fo be disengaged from the inner stud 32, but in being forced to this position with: a positive movement, the ear 39 of the'releasing lever will be forced into the path of move-Q ment of the outer stud 33. In the meantime, the wheel 31 having been released by reason of the disengagement of the ear 39 from the stud 32, will have been. revolved for a very short distance, or until its movement is are rested by the ear 39 corning in contact with the stud 33. Now a little further movement of the dial will permit the ear 41 to drop off the point of the finger, thus letting the arm 36 drop to a position where it is out of the path of movement of either of the studs 32 and 33, thus permitting the shaft 30 to make several revolutions, andthrough the pinion 29, revolve the shaft 8, which carries the pins 10, the pins 10 coming alternately into engagement with the bottom edge of the arm 36 of the releasing lever, which obviously will rock said arm 36 upwardly, forcing the lever upwardly until the ear 39 is again brought in the path of movement of the stud 32, which is the normal position, when the movement will be arrested. During the revolution of the wheel 31, when the studs 32 and 33 are out of engagement with the lever arm 36, the disk 12 carried by the shaft 8, will be rotated for a half of a revolution, the stud 13 during one portion of the revolution, by reason of the engagement with the upper ear 14 on the burner arm 15, will force said arm upwardly until the stud 13 runs out from under the ear, leaving the arm in raised position, with the lamp either lighted or extinguished, as the case may be. The movement of the shaft 8 is arrested at a time when this pin is resting on the top of the outer ear 14 of the arm 15, in readiness, when the mechanism is next tripped, to rock the arm 15 in the opposite direction, to operate the burner valve in the direction opposite from that to which it has been moved by the preceding operation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 2- In a device of the character described, in combination, a burner formed with laterally extending arms, each provided with upwardly opening slots, a clock mechanism, a suitable casing therefor having pins adapted to enter the slots in the burner arms, whereby the burner and clock mechanism are detachably connected, a rotary element actuated by the clock mechanism and extending outside of the casing, said element being provided with an operating projection, a valve in the burner having an arm having ears on its opposite edges and out of alinement with each other, so that the projection on the rotatable element will not interfere with the ready removal or attachment of the clock mechanism, said ears being adapted to be engaged by the projection on the rotary element to open and close the valve.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EUGENE S. NEWBOLD.

Witnesses:

Jos. T. NossEL, DAVID M. NEwBoLD, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

